I don’t do a ton of holiday decorations. I can’t justify spending time and money on something{s} that will only be displayed for thirty days and I don’t like how gussied up some decorations make my home look. {My kids think I’m boring.} I lean towards seasonal décor that is nature-inspired. It’s usually cheaper, can be displayed longer and better complements the rest of our home’s décor unlike, say, a giant inflatable yard jack-o’-lantern with a ghost rising up out of it. {My kids think those are the bomb.}

Wayfair sent me a plain vine wreath and asked me to autumn-fy it. There were no guidelines for the challenge but I made it a goal to spend absolutely NO MONEY on the DIY. Turning to nature, I clipped three hydrangea blooms from my yard leaving a 2″ – 3″ stem on the heads. I let the blooms dry out in an empty vase then tucked the stems snugly into the vine wreath. I also clipped a few leafy branches from a shrub in my yard to flank the hydrangea arrangement. I attached them to the wreath in the same way. I just slipped one end of each branch into the vine wreath until it was secure. I borrowed a simple ivory ribbon from my Christmas decorations to hang the wreath from a mirror {yes, it looks like a bald man’s silhouette} in our laundry nook. The ribbon is taped to the back of the mirror with heavy duty duck tape. Fancy.

I love the way it turned out. Especially since it took about five minutes to put together and hang. I like the organic feel and the reddened blooms of the hydrangea are the exact hues that come to mind when I think of fall. Sort of a deep purple-ish maroon. The best part about this DIY – aside from the no glue, no wires, no mess, no trips to the craft store, no money spent – is that the arrangement is totally removable. When I tire of it, I can replace the bloom + branches arrangement with something more wintry or festive.

I encourage you to skip the Halloween and Thanksgiving decoration aisles and turn to the outdoors for seasonal décor instead. Nature knows best!

I agree with you. I love clipping my burning bush and bringing that in for autumn. I have to admit I did put up some Halloween decorations for the first time ever for a little get-together I’m hosting. Love the wreath!

I love the wreath and I love your no-nonsense style. Can I offer a wee bit of unsolicited advice? First, a bit of background, I’m a mom of 4 ages 21, 14, 6 and 4. I’m also pretty type-A, which I think you’ve alluded to being as well. My unsolicited advice is sometimes the ugly inflatable Halloween or Christmas decoration is totally worth it for the happiness/excitement it brings to your children. No mean-spiritedness intended at all, just wanted to assure you that its okay not to be perfect. OR, maybe I’m just jealous of your clean and organized home and lack of crap. HA

Haha- I do remember loving every year as a kid when my mom brought out our silly but cherished box of Halloween decorations. It was a modest collection of old skeleton lights, hand painted spooky t-shirts, and some Jack-O-Lantern candy bins… but I sure loved seeing that box of stuff every October!

Big yes! Easy, unfussy, low cost, nature-based, and quietly attractive. Yesterday I put a few interesting rocks, a pine cone, and a delicate branch with dried berries on my mantel to complement 2 pairs of long-stored brass candlesticks, and I’m liking that arrangement a lot for fall into winter. Do you have cattails nearby? Here cattails and whispy tall grasses can be cut from roadsides; they dry beautifully and add interesting textures to all sorts of arrangements.

We have a tradition of going out as a family and choosing a live tree. The kids help me decorate it and we might put up a few other Christmas-y things around the house. HH hangs lights {last year they were colored} outside along the gutters. And that’s about it. The whole time I’m putting the decorations out, I’m thinking of how I just have to take them down in a few weeks. I’m such a humbug!

You are so, so right. Thank you for talking sense and cents. I was at dollar store earlier this evening and *almost* succumbed to some cheap-o fakery to festive up the front door…while my yard is brimming with natural raw materials, just waiting to be used.

Im right there with you Dana. Im not a seasonal decorator either. Id much rather put the time, thought, and energy into pieces that will be lasting in our home. I do like to add in a few natural elements and throws and such in the fall but that’s the extent of it. Im part of a fall home tour coming up and im really nervous about the fact that my home is going to be pretty minimal compared to others. My son hates Halloween so we never decorate for it either. We do a live tree as well for Christmas and I like to add live garland and greenery throughout the house but I don’t get all National Lampoons or anything. I say all this to say I think its wonderful to hear and see others that choose a much more simplistic approach to celebrating the seasons in their homes. I love the wreath and I think its perfectly you.

I do love that wreath and mirror combo!! Great job! I just brough in some hydrangia clippings to dry – we had dried ones at our wedding (which was 10/4) so it reminds us of that around our anniversary. : )

As far as decor for the seasons that is not from nature, I do remember as a kid being able to go to the basement to bring up the Halloween box (I would always get excited to do that). Just one small, modest box with past handmade costumes from my Mom, the candy bowl and a light-up jack-o-lantern. No one says you have to go all out, but I remember that tradition of decorating with my Mom (she let me decide where to put the decor) and doing something special to get into the season. Just wanted to share because it’s a fond memory! : )

[…] had written a long time ago that really stuck with me, about why she didn’t like to spend a lot of money on holiday decorating. For the first time in years, I really resonated with that. I mean I fully […]